For Fort Pierce, our economy, our fishing, our boating, and our property values all run through the Indian River Lagoon. Water’s our way of life here, and when the lagoon is healthy, so are we. When it isn’t, we all feel it.
For years, the biggest threats to our water have come from two directions: polluted discharges sent our way from outside, and aging infrastructure in our own backyard. Today, we tackled the second one.
I joined the EPA at FPUA’s (Fort Pierce Utility Authority) Mainland Water Reclamation & Reuse Facility to announce a new $1M investment that I fought for in the appropriations process. Once the project is finished, about 450,000 gallons of wastewater a day will be redirected to the Mainland facility for modern treatment.
This is exactly what taxpayer dollars should fund: a specific project, with a clear result, that our community asked for. It’s also the first piece of a larger plan to modernize the system, make it more reliable, and make it stronger against storms.
Protecting the lagoon takes a lot of fixes like this one. I’ll keep fighting the harmful discharges coming at us, pushing for septic-to-sewer and wastewater upgrades, and making sure the Treasure Coast gets its fair share.
